in which i bake

[jazzfish]

For my birthday a couple weeks ago I thought I'd try and make my grandmother's notoriously finicky cinnamon creme pie. This did not work out; near as I can tell, either I failed to sufficiently stir the egg yolks into the cornstarch/sugar/salt mixture, or I overcooked the custard mixture and scrambled the egg yolk etc mix. (Or both! Embrace the power of And!) I'd run through all my eggs trying to separate three yolks, so I didn't try again after that. Maybe later this week.

---

Erin and I have been watching Foodwishes on youtube on occasion, and Chef John frequently bakes things on a Silpat sheet instead of parchment paper or whatever. I ordered one on Amazon and accidentally shipped it to Vancouver instead of up here, so it was ready for pickup last week. This meant I got to bring it along to HollyCon and try it out on some biscuits there. Worked fine; mildly annoying to clean, but no more so than tearing parchment paper.

The biscuits, though. I accidentally bought pastry flour instead of normal flour, and didn't realise until I was packing up to leave. So I didn't really understand when they turned out exceptionally... crispy, I guess. Not overcooked, not burnt, but the individual layers were thin and fried.

So when I got home I experimented: made a batch of sourdough drop biscuits yesterday and the day before, one with normal flour and one with pastry. Can confirm that pastry flour makes biscuits that are weirdly crispy/crunchy on the edges. Unsure what I will do with this newfound knowledge (and pastry flour), since I don't make pie crust.

---

Also yesterday I made cookies, because a) it's an excuse to have the oven on in a chilly apartment and b) it is likely cheaper than buying a box of them. Specifically, I made ginger snaps without molasses.

They turned out ... a notch or two above "alright," I think. Next time will use brown sugar instead of at least some of the white, and maybe grate some frozen ginger into them too.

And currently I've got meringues in the oven, because I never actually used the leftover egg whites from the failed cinnamon creme pie. Curious to see how they turn out; I don't think I actually whipped them long enough.

---

I still don't really understand why I stopped cooking when I moved to Vancouver, but I'm glad I'm doing it again.

Comments

[kailing]

yay for adventuring and experimenting!

[jazzfish]

:) it's nice to be doing things like this.

[magedragonfire]

I am interested in the subject of this cinnamon creme pie! (Pies are my sort-of specialty.)

Re: biscuits - the lower protein content in the pastry flour interacts with the butter differently to, yeah, essentially fry the layers and make them typically more flaky and seperate than with normal flour. If you don't like the extra crunch, you can always place the biscuits much closer together on your baking sheet than you usually would - that'll cause 'em to kind of grow into one another as they rise and keep the inside edges soft.

[jazzfish]

The recipe is Complicated, as one might expect, but basically:
-blind-bake a crust
-make a custard
-refrigerate the custard for a couple hours, until it's fully cooled
-layer the custard into the crust, with a bunch of cinnamon sugar between the layers
-top with meringue
-bake

If I can pull it off halfway decently, I'll likely put it up here.

Huh, thank you! I do like the easier-to-make-flaky aspect, but the crispiness was kind of offputting.

[magedragonfire]

Nice. That does sound like it'd be a tasty thing! I wish you good luck with the custard endeavours, then. :D

My day today involves making pie, although of the lemon meringue and maple sugar varieties instead.

[greenstorm]

I like cooking a lot. I find it seasonal: from fall harvest/preservation to very early spring it's a hobby, the rest of the time it often (aside from fancy salad or garden pizza) feels more like a chore. Maybe it's all the canning, which is basically cooking for winter, which draws my interest away from it.

[jazzfish]

Yeah, the 'chore' aspect is why I try to keep potpies or last-week's-dinner freezer meals around. S'nice when I feel like doing it and I feel like I have time to, though.

Interesting, on the time aspect. I would have thought the fresh veggies in summer would make it more exciting for you?

[greenstorm]

I keep accumulating freezer meals. We should talk about an accommodation maybe.

In the summer I don't really want to be inside much, and so much of the food doesn't need much cooking: maybe a quick sear or grill. Things actually taste good without it. Canning I love because I envision eating things later on, but cooking for *now* in the summer when I could just eat a thing and move on, well. I'd rather be outside.

[vvalkyri]

I like the idea of flaky biscuits

[sarahk]

pastry flour mixed 1:1 with regular flour makes excellent dumplings for chicken and dumplings.